ElderWeb

The "Nun Study" is a research project to determine the causes of Alzheimer disease, other brain diseases, and the mental and physical disability associated with old age. Researchers are from the University of Kentucky Sanders-Brown Center on Aging and participants are 678 American members of the School Sisters of Notre Dame religious congregation from 75 to 103 years of age. Each sister in the study agreed to participate in annual assessments of her cognitive and physical function, undergo a brief medical examination, have her blood drawn, allow investigators full access to her archival and medical records, and donate her brain at death for neuropathologic study.

Researchers just announced a finding from this study that low serum folate (folic acid) was strongly associated with atrophy of the cerebral cortex in women who had a significant number of Alzheimer lesions in the brain when they died a few years later. They postulate that folic acid may play an important role in maintaining the integrity of the brain in late life, although further research is necessary. Folic acid is present in leafy dark green vegetables, and in peas, beans, and legumes.